The invention relates to a portable flood barrier system and a method of monitoring said system.
Flooding, caused by heavy rain, storms or melted snow, is a problem causing great economical damage and sometimes personal injury. For the purpose of flood control various types of barricades are built.
Permanent flood protection devices such as levies are well known. However, it is often necessary to create a temporary, emergency barrier to flooding. Historically, the emergency barrier of choice has been the sandbag. However, sandbags have a number of drawbacks. They are extremely labour intensive and time-consuming to fill and transport to the site where they are to be used. Moreover, suitable fill material may not always be available in sufficient quantity. Still further, when the bags are no longer needed, a way must be found to dispose of and/or remove the fill material, another time-consuming and labour intensive activity and one that will require the presence of a suitable dumping area for the fill material.
Therefore water-fillable flood-tube barriers are increasingly used as a quick and efficient flood protection solution. The mainly cylindrical tubes are made of a flexible material and can e.g. be connected to traditional fire hoses and, when filled with water, used at sites threatened by flood.
Such a system is e.g. known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,981,392 which describes a water inflatable structural system for constructing temporary dikes and related structures. Said system comprising two identical elongated flattened tubes joined together by a flexible web alongside each other. The tubes can be inflated with water.